At that same moment, far away on the outskirts of Lilith—the capital of the Underworld—a loud, piercing sneeze suddenly rang out.
"ACHOO! Snff, snff..."
Bikou stood with one hand covering his mouth, head turned toward an empty spot as he repeatedly sniffled.
Their current location was atop a barren mountain somewhere in the vicinity of Lilith. Aside from himself, his companions included a certain former White Dragon Emperor, along with several others.
The surrounding terrain looked vaguely familiar.
Beyond the seemingly recognizable rocky peaks, the most distinctive landmark was a massive crater in the flat area between the mountains—as if a meteor had crashed down and carved it out.
Of course, saying a meteor created it was just a figure of speech.
Because this was actually the site of the decisive battle during the Loki incident.
That bottomless crater in the ground had been punched out barehanded by Bokue Keikain when he'd nearly killed Fenrir with a single blow.
And not far away on the other side was another enormous crater—this one created when Kuroka had killed Loki.
Honestly, it was pretty impressive at first glance. But after staring at it long enough, the novelty wore off.
Yet Vali showed no signs of wanting to leave, so Bikou had no choice but to wait.
All he could do was look up at the slightly overcast sky above Lilith, clicking his tongue in mild bewilderment.
It was strange. The Underworld wasn't even cold these past couple days. Sure, autumn had arrived just like in the Human World, but since the rainy season hadn't started yet, the temperature here was actually a bit higher than back home.
Warm enough that normal people would still be wearing short sleeves.
So where did that sneeze come from? Was he actually catching a cold?
That would be pretty ridiculous.
After all, he was a descendant of the legendary Victorious Fighting Buddha. While he was nowhere near his ancestor's level yet, he wasn't exactly weak either. Getting a simple cold this easily—what was that about?
Just as Bikou was pondering this, a somewhat demure girl's voice came from beside him.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Bikou? Are you feeling unwell?"
"Hm? Oh, it's nothing..."
Bikou turned toward the voice. The speaker was a golden-haired girl wearing a pointed witch's hat, clutching a magic staff with deep blue eyes that gazed at him curiously, head tilted.
"Uh, how do I put it—I'm probably not catching a cold. Maybe just some fuzz flew up my nose or something."
Bikou shrugged, offering what he considered a reasonable explanation.
"I see."
The blonde magic girl nodded lightly and fell silent.
However, the silence lasted only about four or five seconds before Bikou couldn't help but speak up again.
"Hey, Le Fay—how much longer are your brother and Vali going to stay here? Is this crater really that interesting to you guys?"
"No idea. Le Fay doesn't really feel anything special about it."
The blonde magic girl adjusted her witch's hat.
"What about you, Mr. Bikou? As someone who actually fought here, what do you think of the person who created this crater?"
"What do I think...? Ha, what do you want me to think?"
Bikou let out a dry laugh, then leaned over the cliff edge to peer down.
"It's just, you know, par for the course. The guy's been completely broken since the day I met him. Plus he's basically a violence-obsessed maniac who wants to solve everything with his fists. The moment something doesn't go his way, he just starts swinging... ugh—"
Toward the end, as if recalling some unpleasant experience, a chill ran from his toes all the way up his spine, making him shudder violently.
"No, wait—that sneeze earlier was definitely a bad omen. I've got a feeling something terrible's going to happen if we stay here any longer..."
Bikou kept muttering to himself, then looked up toward Vali, who stood some distance away beside a tall, blond young man. He raised his voice slightly.
"Hey, Vali! Arthur! Haven't you looked enough? Can we go now?"
"Go?"
The blond young man called Arthur turned his head slightly, adjusting the glasses on his face.
Vali, meanwhile, simply turned to the side with his arms crossed. He raised one hand, made a fist, and pointed his thumb toward something in front of him.
"Ophis is right here. Why don't you go tell her yourself?"
"..."
Bikou suddenly went quiet.
As the two in front stepped aside, it became clear there was someone else standing before Vali and Arthur.
But that figure was so petite compared to them—even standing next to Le Fay, she looked like a little sister next to an older sister.
It was a girl with long, straight black hair, dressed in a gothic black dress... though "girl" wasn't quite right. "Child" would be more accurate.
The slightly dry wind of the barren highlands brushed past, stirring the hem of her dress. The small gothic lolita sat at the cliff's edge, gazing down at the deep crater below with eyes as black and bottomless as a void. Her pale little legs, peeking out from beneath her skirt, swung gently over the precipice.
"Hmm~ Although the destruction here is far less than that other crater, the quality of residual power is remarkably greater... Vali, is this the opponent thou hast long sought to defeat?"
As she spoke, the little girl tilted her face upward, looking at the silver-haired young man standing behind her with his arms crossed.
"Once upon a time."
Vali summed up his stance in just four words.
As the former White Dragon Emperor, he had once considered defeating this generation's Red Dragon Emperor as a milestone on his path to becoming stronger.
After all, this was the destined fate of every White Dragon Emperor. Vali himself had always looked forward to it.
But it wasn't until they actually clashed that Vali realized how catastrophically wrong he'd been.
No matter how elegantly he performed his sword techniques, he couldn't scratch the paint off that robot's surface. Then he got stomped into a meat patty with a single kick.
What was the point of competing? This was insane.
"I see."
Ophis smiled faintly. Without using her hands to push off, her body simply rose from the cliff's edge as if lifted by an invisible force. In the blink of an eye, she was standing upright, then gently descended. Her small feet, clad in black leather shoes over white stockings, touched down lightly on the hard mountain rock.
She turned to face the group that had been waiting behind her, a small smile on her lips.
"Very well. It is time we depart for Lilith. I am quite looking forward to meeting that former Red Dragon Emperor at tomorrow's International Ranking Tournament."
"I am certain it shall be a most memorable encounter."
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